My awesome hubby, David, is the cook at our place – I LOVE to cook breakfast, but that’s it! He is very creative in the kitchen and makes the BEST everything 😉 This was an awesome recipe so I had to share his creation with you ! No, it’s not extremely healthy, but ya just gotta enjoy eating now and then! We try to keep it healthy most of the time, but there are exceptions now and then – and this was one of them.
Here is the recipe as he remembers it:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp bacon drippings (optional – may substitute with additional tbsp of butter)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 – 3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ of sweet pepper (red, orange, or yellow), finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
4 thin Organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and coarsely chopped or shredded
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles (10 oz)
1 can of diced green chiles (4 oz)
1 – 2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro (from our herb garden!)
Salt to taste
7 oz bag of shredded Mexican blend cheese
8 – 10 flour tortillas (fajita size)
Directions:
In a large skillet, heat butter and bacon drippings on medium-high. Add onion, garlic, and sweet pepper. Sauté until tender. Add half of the oregano, chili powder, and cumin. Stir until spices are well mixed. Add chicken, tomatoes, green chiles, cilantro, and salt. Stir and let heat for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining oregano, chili powder, and cumin, and stir well. Continue heating for a couple more minutes, then remove from heat. Let stand for five minutes.
In the meantime, get a large plate, tortillas, and a 13 x 9 baking dish ready (we LOVE our Pampered Chef 13×9 baking dish – our is not the pretty enamel one though!). Add a little more than half of the Mexican blend cheese to the chicken mixture and mix well.
Carefully drain as much of the liquid from the chicken mixture into the 13 x 9 baking dish (enough to lightly cover the bottom of the dish. This will help to prevent the tortillas from sticking).
Place one flour tortilla on the plate. With a large slotted spoon, take enough chicken mixture from skillet and spread out across the middle of the tortilla in an even line*. Bring the bottom of the tortilla up toward the middle and carefully roll it up. Place enchilada seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat for all tortillas or until chicken mixture has all been used.
Pour any excess liquid remaining in the skillet from chicken mixture over the enchiladas. If any chicken mixture is left over (not enough for a whole enchilada), then spread it over the enchiladas as well. Cover enchiladas with remaining Mexican blend cheese, followed by the sharp cheddar.
Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and liquid is bubbling hot. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
*when scooping chicken mixture, drain excess liquid, reserve in skillet.
And there you have it…the recipe for deliciousness! I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did! If you try it, let us know what you think!
